Hobbies, Entertaining & Leisure Time

Games & Clubs | Crafts & Collecting | Entertaining & Food | Gardening | Animal lovers

Games & Clubs

Funtrivia.com

Quiz yourself on all sorts of topics, from movie quotes to world geography to the periodic table of elements. Create tournaments for your friends to compete in. Quizzes are ranked by difficulty.

Coffee Break Arcade

A large collection of puzzles, card games, casino games, old Atari favorites and much more. Games indicate whether they require Java, Flash, or Shockwave. Play as a guest or log in to be able to save your scores and chat with other players.

One Across

A huge, searchable database of previously published crossword puzzle clues.

All-Gauge Page: Fun with Model Railroading

Long list of links to model railroading resources: layouts, standards, illustrations, tips & tricks, and more.

Letterboxing North America

Part treasure hunt, part orienteering, part artististic expression... sound like fun? This site provides all you need to know about letterboxing, including the database of clues which will lead you to hidden boxes in every state.

Kites Over New England

A club which brings together kite lovers of all ages - check the schedule for upcoming competitions and other events near you.

Springfield Stars Club

The local astronomy club has its own Web site, with a schedule of events including programs at the Springfield Science Museum, photos of Comet Hale-Bopp, and other astronomical information and links.

The Society for Creative Anachronism

Love the Middle Ages and Renaissance? This group may be for you! A worldwide educational organization for learning about medieval and renaissance times.
Here's a local link: The Barony of Bergental

Western Mass Go Club

Players gather in Amherst on Monday evenings to play this fascinating 4,000-year-old Chinese boardgame. The website has links to other Go-related sites.

Crafts & Collecting

Antiques Roadshow Online

All the fun of the popular PBS TV program, plus a schedule of Roadshow visits, an index of appraisers, tips of the trade, games and more.

Antiques and the Arts Online

Browse or search articles back to 1996. The site includes an up-to-date calendar of auctions and shows, mostly in the New England area.

Art & Craft Shows

A searchable database of arts and crafts shows throughout the country. Search for an arts/crafts show, festival or fair by dates, city, state, or region.

Calligraphy

Learn the basics of holding the pen and making the standard shapes. Includes examples of different styles, and a brief history of writing.

Curioscape.com

Online resource for antiques, art, collectibles and other specialty items. Includes annotated links to collectible resources and an antique shop locator.

DIY

From the Do It Yourself network, instructions for projects for the home, arts & crafts, automotive, decorating, gardening, recreation and other hobbies.

Flea Market Guide

A guide to flea markets and swap meets around the country, listed by state.

icollector.com

Connect to online auction house catalogs, dealers and galleries, live auctions and other resources for art, antiques and collectibles.

Imagination Factory

An educational site devoted to arts and crafts made with recycled material - make your own Trashasaurus Rex!

Kovel's Online Price Guide

The popular print guide to prices for antiques and collectibles is now online!

RubberStampingLinks

Directory of links to personal pages, shopping resources, conventions, tips and techniques, and much more.

Stamp2.com

A website devoted to philately, the collecting of stamps. Includes a directory of collecting groups, marketplace and services, reference resources, beginner's guides and online forums.

Scrapjazz

Truly a scrapbooking megasite, with instructional articles, product highlights and online forums.

Stitchguide

Clear instructions on specific stitches for crochet, embroidery, knitting, and other types of needlework. Some descriptions include videos.

Woodworker's Central

Includes color scans of different types of wood, a database of tool reviews, searchable articles and project plans, and much more.

Entertaining & Food

Baking911.com

Answers all the questions you ever had about baking, and maybe a few more! Includes recipes and how-to's, plus info on candy and decorating.

The Brewery: Home Brewing Information

Tons of information on home brewing beers and ales, with recipes, suppliers, discussion forums, clipart, links, and much more.

The Cook's Thesaurus

A very handy online encyclopedia which provides substitution suggestions for ingredients and kitchen equipment. Also includes color images, pronunciations, and buying and preparation tips.

Culinary History Timeline

Links to a wide variety of articles, digitized menus, recipes, and other online resources dealing with food throughout history. Part of a large site maintained by the Morris County library in New Jersey - check out their Food Timeline and K-12 teacher resources for food history lessons.

Holiday Party Ideas

Running out of fresh ideas for your kids' parties? Browse this collection of party descriptions, organized by theme, submitted by party throwers from all over North America.

Local Harvest

As part of the Buy Local movement, Local Harvest will help you find nearby organic farms, farmers markets and organic restaurants. Also, shop online for organic products and browse the suggested weblinks and other resources.

RecipeSource

Another searchable, browsable recipe database, with over 70,000 entries. Strong on international offerings, from Irish soda bread to Vietnamese spring rolls .

Webtender: On-Line Bartender

Search the index for more than 4500 drink recipes, check statistics, or consult the bartender's handbook. A helpful site when you're planning a party.

Winefiles.org

Database for wine professionals and wine lovers. Information on wine, wine making and grape growing, including the business, technology and history associated with wine. Coverage is worldwide with a special emphasis on California. From the Sonoma County Wine Library.

Winter Holiday Websites

A collection of websites recommended by Springfield librarians, to help you enjoy the holiday! Covers Halloween, Ramadan, Thanksgiving, Solstice, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, New Year's, and others.

Yum Yum Recipes

An index of over 10,000 online recipes, searchable by name, keyword or category. Or just browse through the categories for mouth-watering additions to your menu.

Gardening

Botany.com

A virtual plant encyclopedia, with common and botanical names, pests and diseases, maps of area temperatures and more.

Duh, Plants: Getting Started With Gardening for the Black Thumbed

Amusing introductory essays on light, dirt, rescues, etc.

Garden Guides

A 'growing resource for gardeners' with tips for growing flowers, vegetables and herbs.

Plantcare.com

A database of over 1,300 species of house and greenhouse plants which provides 18 categories of care, from watering to lighting. Search a plant by either its Latin or common name. If you don't know the name, Search by Plant Type, such as Shrub, Fern or Perennial.

National Gardening

Regional reports, articles, how-to courses, message boards and more.

Plant Facts

Factsheet database with guides for answering plant-related questions from over 46 universities and government sites in the US and Canada. Hosted by Ohio State University.

Animal Lovers

AcmePet: Your Guide to Pets on the Internet!

Online manuals for dogs and cats, exotic pets and everything in between. Includes links to breed descriptions, breeders, organizations, and articles on pet health and training.

Merck Veterinary Manual

The single most comprehensive electronic reference for animal care information. Includes over 12,000 indexed topics and over 1400 illustrations. Rapidly search by topic, species, specialty, disease, and keyword using advanced search.

PetEducation.com

Articles on choosing, feeding, and raising pets; health care; grooming; and behavior; veterinary medicine, drugs, and treatment; for cats, dogs and more exotic pets. Includes pets services directories, veterinary and other hotlines, and a dictionary of veterinary terms. From Doctors Foster & Smith, an online pet store.

Digital Dog

A website dedicated to teaching everyone 'why dogs do the things they do.' Includes sections on dog breeds, behavior and training, adoptions, and dog stories from contributors.

Practical Pet Care

Care sheets, on such topics as feeding, grooming, habitat, health, breeding and more, for a wide variety of pets; not only the standard dogs, cats, birds and fish, but rodents, ferrets, lizards, snakes, spiders, and hermit crabs! Includes an "Ask an Expert" feature.

Massbird.org

A great collection of links to birding-related websites, including local clubs, zines, and personal pages. Sponsored by the print journal, Bird Observer.

Bird Checklists of the United States

Compilation of checklists from wildlife refuges and parks around the country.

Fat Birder

"Hundreds of pages & tens of thousands of links about birding everywhere in the world"

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